Menstrual Symptoms

[melannen]

I was talking to a friend recently about how none of the places that supposedly give you "straight talk on sex and female bodies" actually seem to have an accurate, comprehensive list of menstrual symptoms.

As a teenager I read a lot of that stuff, but I didn't have any female friends I was close enough to talk about it with - I was halfway going by Heinlein's "real women don't have PMS", because it was clear none of the "my body" books were describing my body in that respect - and as a result it wasn't until I joined a tmi-focused lj community that I started to realize that the things my body was doing were things other people's bodies do, too. Sadly, that community has died down a lot with the exodus from lj and I haven't found a good replacement yet.

But as a service to humanity, here is a list of things that I know for a fact are regular menstrual or pre-menstrual symptoms for more than one person who menstruates, not a symptom of any particular disorder or any problem beyond "having a healthy uterus". If you know of ones I've missed, feel free to suggest them in the comments and I'll add them to the end of the post! Anon is turned on.

Poll #15384 Menstrual Symptoms for All

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 94

View Respondents

Pain

View Answers

1. stomach/abdominal cramps
86 (91.5%)

2. lower back pain
65 (69.1%)

3. heartburn/reflux
9 (9.6%)

4. breast pain or tenderness
56 (59.6%)

5. sudden stabbing pain in the lower abdomen, often only on one side
42 (44.7%)

6. burning/soreness of the vulva region
20 (21.3%)

7. headaches
36 (38.3%)

8. general body aches (like the flu)
39 (41.5%)

Digestion

View Answers

1. diarrhea/loose stool
71 (78.9%)

2. constipation
32 (35.6%)

3. nausea (+sometimes vomiting)
25 (27.8%)

4. reduced appetite
24 (26.7%)

5. increased appetite
26 (28.9%)

6. changes in appetite/cravings
40 (44.4%)

7. bloating/changes in clothing size
46 (51.1%)

8. water retention
26 (28.9%)

9. gas/flatulence
35 (38.9%)

Sleep

View Answers

1. insomnia
19 (28.8%)

2. increased sleep
13 (19.7%)

3. general fatigue/tiredness
58 (87.9%)

4. increased energy
5 (7.6%)

5. unusually vivid dreams
11 (16.7%)

6. nightmares/night terrors
4 (6.1%)

7. pregnancy dreams
3 (4.5%)

8. sex dreams
17 (25.8%)

9. really weird sex dreams
11 (16.7%)

Emotional/Psychological

View Answers

1. irritability
62 (76.5%)

2. depression/despair
51 (63.0%)

3. emotional numbness/anhedonia
19 (23.5%)

4. mania
6 (7.4%)

5. anger
26 (32.1%)

6. cheerfulness/feeling of well-being
3 (3.7%)

7. mood swings
33 (40.7%)

8. anxiety
33 (40.7%)

9. difficulty concentrating/memory lapses
21 (25.9%)

10. switch from extrovert to introvert or vice versa
4 (4.9%)

11. other ongoing psychological or emotional conditions being altered
13 (16.0%)

Sexual

View Answers

1. increased libido/desire
53 (74.6%)

2. decreased libido/desire
23 (32.4%)

3. changes in sexuality or sexual orientation
10 (14.1%)

4. changes in erogenous zones
6 (8.5%)

5. changes in ease or experience of orgasm
24 (33.8%)

6. changes in preferred kinks
11 (15.5%)

General/Other

View Answers

1. changes in body odor or perspiration
24 (27.0%)

2. coming down with a cold or other illness/existing illness getting worse
21 (23.6%)

3. existing illness going away/getting better
2 (2.2%)

4. acne/pimples
53 (59.6%)

5. changes in the way medications or drugs work
7 (7.9%)

6. sensory changes (increased or altered sensitivity to smell/noise/texture/etc.)
23 (25.8%)

7. UTIs or yeast infections appearing or going away
14 (15.7%)

8. easier bruising/reduced clotting ability
6 (6.7%)

9. changes in body temperature/feeling hot or cold
31 (34.8%)

10. changes in body size/fit of clothing (including breasts, waist, feet, etc.)
29 (32.6%)

11. blood and chunks of flesh dripping out of the vagina
78 (87.6%)

Additions from the comments (part one)
Restless Leg Syndrome flare-up
Cold sores
Other flare-ups in chronic conditions, injuries or infections
Muscular tension or stiffness
Cold/allergy symptoms with no outside cause - congestion, sore throat, runny eyes
Earworms/songs stuck in head
Changes in vaginal secretions/lubrication
Increased thirst
Changes in frequency of urination/urge to urinate
Nosebleeds
Dreams about babies or motherhood
Abdominal pain after orgasm
Changes in pain sensitivity


Most people only have a small proportion of those at any one time - thank all the gods there are - but if you experience any of them, just know you're not alone. And that it's normal for which ones you experience to change over time.

Just for fun, I've made this a poll, so if you want to register which ones you've experienced at some point in your life, you can!

And then ask why evolution ever though it was a good idea do make us go through that every month, instead of once a year, like more sensible species. (On the plus side, at least we don't have deal with male hormones, which fluctuate unpredictably ALL THE TIME. Poor delicate males.)

Comments

[sophia_sol]

What a great post - thank you for making it! This stuff doesn't get talked about openly nearly enough.

[cahn]

And then there are ovulation symptoms too! Because I am not sharp on the uptake, several times when I had fairly intense ovulation symptoms I thought I might be getting my period early, or... or I didn't even know what.

It wasn't until I was trying to get pregnant that I found out that this was, in fact, totally normal! (In fact, I've found pregnancy websites to be the best sites I've found for informing me as to PMS symptoms -- because a lot of the symptoms are similar.)

[jjhunter]

And 'bonus': first month after first IUD placement = very normal to pick up period symptoms you've never had before! and/or have ones you know be so, so much worse.

...ask me if it's worth it *after* this month is over.

/bleargh

[ellen_fremedon]

Oh god yes this. I made the mistake of getting my IUD right after starting a thyroid medication adjustment. I pretty much have spent the last year figuring out what the new normal is.

[cathexys]

After 6 years of IUD, forme it was definitely worth it. My periods dropped to pretty much nothing within the first year and all but the moodiness as symptom has disappeared.

Btw, not sure this would fit under other stuff but my one true sign of getting my period for the longest time was getting a cold sore. Bah!

[ellen_fremedon]

Ooh! I read a really nifty thing just the other week about the purpose of menstruation! (Warning: the site will make you register to read it. Worth registering to read-- it's about the arms race between the human endometrium and the human placenta, and it is fascinating.)

[ellen_fremedon]

One more for the Sleep symptoms: Restless Leg Syndrome. Mine gets reliably much worse the week before my period; I've started just scheduling a monthly acupuncture appointment to try to head it off at the pass.

[melannen]

Yeah, most of these, I have found, can actually happen anytime from a week before to a week after your period, or anytime in the week around ovulation. Which is basically: any time in the monthly cycle, the key is that it *is* on your cycle somewhere, and not just that you happen to feel like crap once a month, which it took me way too long to figure out..

[calvinahobbes]

I'll resist the urge to tell you my entire menstrual history. There are several of the symptoms you mention that fit me, but note quite how I would describe them. The general body ache sort of fits, but it feels more like all my muscles are tensed, so there are things I can't do as much/only do more carefully unless I want my muscles to get stuck that way. I get a lot of neck tension (increased chance of cricks) and my thighs will feel like I've biked for miles even if I haven't. For headaches, it's similar: if I get too tired (and I get tired even more easily during (P)MS I develop a particular kind of headache that can go on for 24-48 hours.

Also in the cold symptoms category, I've found that I will get cold symptoms that aren't actually early stages of an actual cold: stuffy nose, runny eyes, throat ache. For the longest time I kept thinking I was eternally dodging some virus, until I realized it's just PMS.

11. blood and chunks of flesh dripping out of the vagina
Isn't that the *definition* of menstruation? I feel like I'm missing something here?

ETA: Also a revelation for me was learning that PMS is not defined as the "the period before your menstruation" but actually as "a few days before your menstruation and the first days OF your menstruation". Which is true for me - I usually experience a shift in symptoms after a couple of days, and by the end of the period I'll be mostly symptom-free, even though I'm still bleeding.

[melannen]

Ugh, yeah, anything involving altering your cycle and how your body responds to it (hormonal birth control, IUDs, medications, pregnancy and/or nursing, anything else that throws your body into a new norm) can change it completely and take a really long time to settle into something new. I, uh, hope it turns out to be worth it for you.

[deird1]

sudden stabbing pain in the lower abdomen, often only on one side

Cool! I had no idea that was normal - I thought I was just weird.

[melannen]

Yep! It's apparently more closely associated with ovulation, but I get it in the PMS period just as often.

[melannen]

Yeah, I was trying to sum things up in a very few words, so a lot of nuance got lost. Would something like "general muscular tension/stiffness" sum it up reasonably accurately?

...and huh, I wonder if the times I thought I got a cold over my period were just period-linked symptoms. Although mine usually lingers long enough that I suspect it really is an infection getting through.

11 is p. universal, I think, yeah. :P But it felt weird leaving it out. (Also I suspect there are still people out there who don't realize clots are normal - I didn't until I started living on the internet.)

And I actually get very few physical symptoms before the bleeding starts - I'll get the emotional ones and the weird dreams and the fatigue as my warning, but by the time the cramps et al. start I'm usually already spotting (and the emotional/sleep symptoms have mostly stopped, other than the ones directly caused by the physical symptoms...).

[melannen]

Oooh, good one! Well, not good for you, but good for the list.

[melannen]

Oh, so there really *is* a war going on in my uterus, it's not just that it feels like it! ^_^

...I am never ever getting pregnant after reading that.

[melannen]

That may file more-or-less under the other stuff that involves "immune system taking the week off" (like my colds) but "flare-ups of chronic infections or illnesses" is probably worth its own line, yeah. Thanks!

[melannen]

I am glad it is helpful! It makes so much of a difference to actually have some kind of a baseline on this stuff.

[sarken]

My favorite was the time I mentioned on Twitter that I often get a song stuck in my head when I get my period, and I had multiple people saying they did, too.

Who the hell designed this system? Ugh.

[melannen]

oh wow, that's one I never would have thought of! interesting.

...clearly nobody designed it, even the worst government committee could have come up with something better.

[beatrice_otter]

Question: so if 81% of women have issues with diarrhea, and only 38% have issues with water retention, why do menstrual meds have diuretics in them? Because that makes diarrhea worse!

[lovepeaceohana]

Having been through two pregnancies, I'll add that while my PMS used to pretty much always be cramps and irritability, now it's this extraordinary grab-bag of symptoms. I might get cramps and irritability one month, and then wild mood swings and fatigue the next. I'm usually very regular by the calendar but the lack of typical symptoms makes it harder for me to correctly peg them as PMS.

[beatrice_otter]

Also, to the best of my knowledge I've never had mood swings associated with my periods (though I have an Aunt who has terrible mood swings). But I am sometimes crabby that day. But it's not a hormone thing: it's just that sometimes (between horrible gas and cramps) it feels like I'm being stabbed in the gut with a rusty knife. And, like most people, I get crabby when I'm in pain.

[neekabe]

Seconding aching muscles. Particularly thighs. When things are really bad, wall sits* are the only things that help :(

*that exercise where your back is against a wall and it looks like you're sitting in a chair but there's no chair.

[sassbandit]

More for the list:

* changes in vaginal lubrication
* sciatica flare-up
* thirst/drinking a lot of water (for me this is related to bloating/water retention but the first sign is thirst)
* change in frequency of urination/urge to urinate

[lannamichaels]

Oh god, ovulation. Why does it hurt? What evolutionary purpose does MAKING IT HURT serve? *sends evolution a strongly-worded note*